Faces From A Vanishing World
by cake-error
Summary: Two girls, two islands. Their fate is inextricably tied up with the world's. Can they save the fourth dimension before it swallows up ours?  Rating may be changed for violence in later chapters.  My first non-romance centered fic!
1. Chapter 1

I'm not sure how airports work, so I'm assuming they have a special place for nations. And stuff. Yeah. Because they're too cool to take commercial flights (especially when you have no airport).

Our (the-shadows-have-magic and I) OCs are here, and there are some other minor characters who aren't nations but they're technically OCs, right?

_HI! I'M HOWARD THE SPY!_

…what that was I don't know…but I promise Howard will be in this~

This chapter's gonna be really boring, but I promise this only has to set up the scenes and give a background and all. Promise. Next chapter will be more exciting…or maybe the next…or something like that…I'm bad with slow stories, so the plot will move pretty fast.

…I'm such an idiot. When I wrote this, I completely forgot about poor little Canada…*sniffles*

* * *

England pushed the door to the meeting room open, hurrying to his seat. Setting his things on the table his things on the table, he looked around the room-and found himself staring at a pair of eyes.

The eyes belonged to a tall girl of about 13 with medium length dark brown hair. She was a bit pale, and wore a loose grey sweater with the sleeves rolled midway up her forearms. Under the sweater poked out black sleeves that glittered and sparkled. She wore plain black pants. A thick leather jacket hung on the back of her chair. She stared back at him, bright green meeting hazel for a long moment, before he dared say anything.

"Not to be rude…but who the hell are you?"

She only smiled mysteriously. "I think we should wait for the rest of the world to show up." She pulled out a sleek metallic cell phone and pressed a key before typing furiously. She pressed the send button triumphantly seconds later.

He looked back at her, stunned to find her slightly elongated and pointed pupils ringed by yellow. Before he could blink, she seemed to shift slightly, as if she was changing forms, and appeared as normal as anything. She grinned, pointed canines shining in the light from the fluorescent bulbs.

If he had ever had a suspicion someone was magical, it would be now.

He furrowed his (enormous) eyebrows. Something was off about her.

America soon bounced into the room, followed by Russia. "Hey, England!" He cried happily. "What's up?"

He snorted. "The ceiling." _Idiot._ To his dismay, Russia began to laugh along with America, raising the hairs on the back of his neck and chilling him to the bone.

Nantucket bobbing slightly, he turned to face the teenager who sat as still as stone in her chair. "New country?" He questioned. She nodded. "Funny. I didn't know we were supposed to have another country join…" He looked at England, who shrugged. This was getting weirder and weirder.

Italy, Germany, Japan, and China soon entered.

Finally, the girl rose. She looked impatient, like something-or someone-was missing. "I'd like to start the meeting by introducing myself, but I can't start until…"

The door burst open. Relief spread across her face. "Until my chronically late sister shows up."

A shorter girl who looked about the same age rushed in, panting and dragging her bag. She had dirty blonde hair, a smiling heart-shaped face, and wore glasses, unlike her sister. She smiled. Her blue eyes had a ring of yellow around their pupils as well. She wore a grey long sleeved shirt with a purple tee shirt over it, a tan jacket, and dark jeans sloppily tucked into her combat boots.

"Yes." The first girl cleared her throat. "New countries. We're islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Sisters, I suppose. I'm Eydis, and she's Tanaquillia."

America stood. "Do you have human names?"

She stiffened. "Names are powerful. They are not for you to know at this time." Her sister tugged at her sleeve. "Come _on_, please?"

Heaving an exasperated sigh, she conceded. "You can call me Glynnis." Her cheerful sister added, "I'm Kaia! And our last name's-"

Her sister slapped a hand over her mouth. "_Shut_. _Up._" She hissed. Glaring at everyone else, she growled, "Any questions?"

Russia called, "When did you…come into existence?"

She hesitated. "Our two islands came into existence a while ago, and we sometime later, but we haven't met any of you in person until now." She sighed. "Anything else, Kaia?" She shook her head, still cheerful.

Germany frowned. "Who lives there?"

They sucked in a breath. "We've got a few people…" Kaia began…

"And a few towns." Glynnis finished. She shot her sister a warning glance.

"How did you get invited here?"

"That is for us to know and you to find out. I thought we should make our presence known. If that's all, you should start the meeting."

She sat. Her sister managed to procure a chair out of nowhere and occupy it as well.

Something was weird about both of them…he couldn't quite tell…he would have to do some searching.

**R!T$&*! R)SB^!R$DFGV&C(#*C#IKM**

"So you're saying that they're magical and weird and you want to tail them and figured out what the hell's wrong with them?" America rattled off in a low whisper.

"Yes."

"You two are plotting, da? Could I help?" Russia appeared behind them, leaning his head on America's shoulder. America put a hand on his cheek and nodded.

"I…I guess…if you can just stop appearing behind me and scaring the shit out of me!"

America laughed. "I can manage him."

They stood in silence. "…so how the hell do we get there?"

**!TB&2Gn$t^*NGY*OGMY*VFCVC**

Getting there involved roping Canada in.

He stood there, invisible, shadowing the two girls as they left the building. They went to the airport, and showed their tickets to the lady sitting in the lobby. She directed them to a side room. He managed to slip in before the door swung shut.

He flipped open his phone and texted his brother where he was. A short _We'll be there_ flashed back in under a minute.

Glynnis shot the room a suspicious glance. "I think someone's here." Canada stifled a gasp of surprise. He thought he was invisible (This time he was actually trying to blend in, but he wasn't so sure how it went over.)

Her sister rolled her eyes. "You say that every time we go anywhere. Is that all you can say?"

"Seriously. There's someone." She cocked her head. "I hear his heartbeat. He's here." She shook her shaggy mane of hair. "Ignore it."

Her sister sighed. "London's nice, isn't it?"

She snorted. "It's humid, and it's too warm here. I miss home, but I suppose we met new people." She grumbled some more under her breath. "I can't wait to get back. This form is annoying."

Her sister pouted. "Come on, just because-" Her sister slapped her hand over her mouth again. "_Shut up!_" She hissed. "Someone is_ here_!" She took her cell phone out and dialed a number.

"Yes. We're ready to leave. Yes. No, it's a room. Yes. No, we need to leave _now._ There's someone _here_, anyway. Yes. Okay. Thank you so much." She snapped the phone shut. "We're leaving." She strode off towards the door on the other side of the room. "Get your stuff."

Kaia followed her, still rolling her eyes. "You're so paranoid! You can't be right all the time."

She glared at her. "How many times have I saved your neck? I don't want to count. Here, I bet ten dollars. I expect it by tomorrow." Slipping on the black leather jacket and hauling her bag over her shoulder, she opened the door and stalked down the short ramp to the plane that was now waiting.

Trailing Kaia closely, he squeezed in after them and slunk onto the small plane that waited, hiding himself in the flight attendant's room that was unattended. England, Russia, and America were all there, somehow.

He gestured hopelessly but soon gave up, silently sitting down.

Voices echoed from the cockpit. "They've obviously got a pilot who knows who they are," America murmured to England.

"Yes, yes, okay! Shut up!"

The plane began trundling off.

Launched above the clouds, four people could not help but wonder what they had gotten themselves into.

* * *

Ignore the fucked up linebreaks. I'm sorry Germany, Italy, Japan, and China, but you won't take major roles in this. You neither, France. *talks to a huge line ouf countries* This is going to be multidimensional, I'll try to make it as simple as possible for peopleto understand, but updates will be slow even though we have Christmas break. Sorry, guys.

If you like, review, if you don't review, story faves, alerts, any recognition of my presence on the interwebs are appreciated. Reviews will be responded to as soon as possible, seeing as I'm supremely busy all of the time (damn schedule...).

Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, this chapter officially pissed me off, because when I saved, it totally fucked itself up. I mean, seriously. It had ten thousand words (probably more) and they were all repeats of the chapter pasted over and over, and everything was bolded and italicized and-ugh! Here, I'll try one more time, and if it doesn't work I'm going to kill .

* * *

Kaia stretched in her seat, twisting headphones into her ears, preparing for a long, boring flight.

Her sister clenched her teeth beside her. "Four people, now. How the hell are these people getting here?" She growled. "And here I was thinking I could relax…"

She poked her, smiling. "You said you wanted to meet new people! Go ahead." She ignored her and stood up instead.

Not bothering to look at her sister, she pulled something out of her bag.

***^$$R^(#R#(FRGF*W#%EB$#(**

England stretched. "I think I might try something…Canada!" Said nation was sprawled across one of the seats, looking bored as anything. Canada ignored him. "Whatever it is, no. I'm not going to go run around invisible and look at them sit there."

He smacked him halfheartedly. "Then _I_ will."

Muttering some words under his breath, he spread his arms out and felt himself disappear. "Ha! You can't see me!"

Russia glared at him from the corner. "Even though you're invisible doesn't mean we can't hear you." Cursing something in Russian and turning away from him, he wrapped one arm around America, who returned the gesture.

Quietly sliding the door open, he ghosted down the aisle. He reached the seat where Kaia sat, and a long haired brown cat sat sleeping on the chair beside her. _Cat?_ Glynnis didn't seem to be anywhere in sight. The cat shot him a quick glare before hopping off the chair and stalking off towards the front of the plane. He leapt back, stunned, and nearly ran back.

"Glynnis has somehow disappeared on this plane and there's a cat." He panted. America nodded. "There's a cat. Hmm."

Russia nodded. "Let me guess: the cat scared you, and now you've run back here."

He scowled. "It _looked _at me! It stared right at my eyes and glared at me!"

America checked his watch. "You two can bicker over that for the next hour or so." He looked at his brother and shared an exasperated sigh with his rather translucent relation.

England massaged his temples. He didn't quite have a death wish that strong yet.

**R!T$&*! R)SB^!R$DFGV&C(#*C#IKM**

The plane eventually touched down…England disguised them all and they snuck off just in time to see the plane rattle away to God-knows-where.

"Home!" Glynnis shrieked, repressing the urge to kiss the ground.

Tanaquillia was equally overjoyed, spinning circles and grinning. "We're staying at your place?"

"I guess." She twitched. "Whatever's there, it's _following_ us. It's scaring the hell out of me. Let's go." She set off at a purposeful stride down a worn dirt path that lead to a sleepy town. A cat lounged indolently on a doorstep. Women hurried by with umbrellas clutched in their hands.

Leaping up the mountainous path, she wove through dark pine trees and ended up at the front door of a small house painted a deep burgundy nestled in a copse of trees on the top of a cliff, pulling a key out of her pocket. "Home…" She let herself in and dragged her sister's bag after her. England told the others to wait somewhere else before he let them in.

"Sure!" America whispered back. "I planned for this, anyway." He somehow pulled a tent out of nowhere and skipped off.

He shook his head. "I'll never understand him." Canada massaged his forehead in agreement and followed his brother. Russia grinned and wandered after them.

Nearly forgetting what he was supposed to be doing, he sprinted through the door as it was about to close.

They set their bags down. Glynnis walked off into another room, returning with several leaves of iceberg lettuce. Her sister shook her head. "I'm never going to understand how you eat. All hours of the night, and the strangest combinations."

She cocked her head and laughed. "Sorry? I was too busy ignoring you to hear." She crunched on another leaf before scowling. "There's something following us! I can smell it. Like…I'm not even sure." Walking up the stairs, she called over her shoulder, "I'm going to my room. You can go to yours if you want, or something." Kaia nodded and pulled out a laptop from her bag before running up the stairs.

He followed, ending up in a room with black walls, matching carpeting, and one enormous glass wall with shades draped across. The ceiling twinkled with LEDs. A platform bed in black wood stood in the middle of the room, piled high with quilts. The dresser, cabinets, and various chairs and tables were all built into the wall. In the corner was a walk in closet with frosted glass walls. Very faintly, a panel could be seen in a wall, probably leading to another room. Kaia sat on the bed and flipped open her laptop and began typing…with three fingers. Shaking his head, he retreated.

He slid back through the door, carefully tiptoeing down the hall and sliding through the open door.

***T(*TGFY$VFR#^ND#%&(*CH#*$**

He padded in the room, footsteps effectively silenced by the thick burgundy carpet. _What is with this girl and red?_ The room had weathered, mahogany shelves built into the deep green walls. A platform bed was nestled in one corner of the room and piled with mismatched quilts so thick he could not see the actual bed underneath. The shelves were laden with old books, pieces of glass, and boxes of varying shapes, sizes, and colors. From the ceiling (painted gold) hung a set of baubles glowing brightly in different colors.

Tall windows were covered with patchwork curtains in a million patterns, crazily stitched with various colors of thread. A pile of cushions sat in between the two casements. A door covered with pictures and various materials was next to the head of the bed.

He almost didn't notice her sitting in the quilts, scribbling away at a notebook. She convulsed slightly, head snapping up.

"Okay," she growled in a dangerously low voice. "Whoever's there, you're really annoying the hell out of me, so either show yourself, or _go the fuck away._" She stared right through him. Not daring to say anything, he waited until she left the room to look at what she was writing.

Strange scrawled characters he'd never seen before covered each sheet, written in bold red ink…or at least he thought it was ink…Some pages were written in other languages as well. He saw a chunk filled with nothing but Cyrillic. Several sheaves of paper were painted with delicate Chinese characters.

He shuffled backwards, sliding down the stairs and outside.

**!TB&2Gn$t^*NGY*OGMY*VFCVC**

The sun sank below the horizon, igniting the bruised dark clouds into bright golds and reds. Dark shades covered the windows, and finally the moon rose high, glittering coldly in the midnight sky. England sat in the cramped tent with Canada, America, and Russia, still puzzling.

"There's something up. First of all, how does an island appear out of nowhere without anyone noticing it? And weird things just happen. Things materialize out of nowhere, people do weird things, they're just…off."

America, face solemn, leaned closer to whisper. "Hey, if you can listen really closely, you can hear that no one is listening to you." He laughed at his own joke. Speaking louder, he said, "If this has anything to do with ghosts, I'm out. Other than that, we should be okay."

Canada trembled under Russia's glare. "Um, if you really wanted to find anything out, the best time would be now, when no one 's awake."

He blinked. "Thank you…Matthew." The pause was noticeable, and America slapped his arm. "You idiot, how did you forget his name?" Still fuming for his brother, he let England go back outside without contest.

He opened the door cautiously, the pale sliver moonlight bleaching everything of color. Everything was silent.

The slight padding of footsteps down the stairs alerted him. He spun around-but too late.

* * *

Okay, the damn thing worked. *lets out breath she's been holding*

Once again, ignore the fucked up linebreaks. And free pasta, wurst, onigiri, potatoes, cheese, scones, hamburgers, vodka, salmiakki, kimchee, ice cream, maple syrup, or whatever the hell you eat for the reviewers...even though it's virtual. m(_ _)m Thanks for sticking with me, and expect a dry spell in January (damn midterms...). Until then, my lovely readers, goodbye~


	3. Chapter 3

Okay, I have a very valid excuse. I deleted everything remotly related to Hetalia fanfiction on my computer in a fit of insanity and rage, so I had to rewrite everything I was working on *wails* because I'm such a frickin' idiot. *sniffles* And I was almost done with the chapter too! *sobs harder*

So...yeah...more cliffhanging.

And yeah, my linebreaks are annoying me too, so I'll change it to my traditional, time-lapse indicating, handy-dandy, standard, well-used (you get the point) !_!_!_!_!_!_!_! break.

* * *

Glynnis stood at the foot of the stairs, eyes widened in shock. It quickly transformed into rage, and she was suddenly in front of him and clutching his throat. "What," she snarled, "are you doing here?" Her eye twitched in annoyance.

Gathering whatever courage he had, he spat, "Who are you, really?" She seemed shocked. "What do you want to know?" She whispered. "Everything." He hissed with the last of his air. She let him go and clenched her fists.

Kaia ghosted down the stairs, looking very much awake and not at all like she had just woken up. "What-England!" She yelled. "What-but-why-" She sputtered angrily. "What are you doing here?"

He rubbed his neck. "Same question I got just a minute ago."

Her sister shot him a glare before saying, "He wants to know what we are."

"Hah!" He yelled. "You are something else."

Her eyes glinted dangerously and she grabbed his arm. "Shut up before I make you."

America, Canada, and Russia appeared in the door. "Are we...interrupting...something...?"

She growled. "No. Better you see." She trembled. "Now you'll see."

"O-ow!" He swore colorfully. Her fingernails dug into his arm, but she didn't seem to be increasing her grip. She shuddered again and the air rippled, her skin stretching and bones twisting. In only a fraction of a second but what seemed so much longer, she transformed into a wolf. Shaking out her long dark brown hair, she snarled.

He stumbled backwards, shocked.

She writhed again, and collapsed to the floor, twisting. She twined around his legs now, rattling and hissing, her scales shining in the low light.

She leapt back, returned to her normal form, hair mussed up and expression neutral, and pulled her sweater sleeves down, but not before she could hide the scars stretching down her forearms and circling her wrists. Pushing herself up off the floor, her eyes were carefully locked on the ceiling, not deigning to look at anyone.

Kaia smiled. Her laptop appeared in her arms. "And I make things appear! Not out of nothing, I mean. I transport things. Not people, yet. I think." Her sister glared at her before facing everyone again. "You can stay in the living room." She opened a closet, tossed some blankets at them, and stormed off.

Her sister shrugged. "Ignore her. She gets really angry sometimes. Anyway, you can roam the island if you want. Don't go poking around suspicious things, because they might be dangerous, but other than that you guys can stay here." She smiled again, although it was more of a Russia smiel than, say, an Italy smile, and ran up the stairs.

England rubbed his neck, watching Russia, America, and-what was his name? oh!-Canada stare at him questioningly. "Just sleep." He snapped.

Oh, how he wished to be anywhere else...

!_!_!_!_!_!_!_!

He woke up much, much too early. The early morning sun had ever so delightfully decided to rise and shine on his face, thereby burning his eyes and making his day miserable before it started. Grumbling angrily under his breath, he looked around.

He was sitting on a couch, Matthew out cold on a blanket next to him, his brother sprawled out neatly on the floor, and Russia on the other couch, hand outstretched and mumbling something in his dream. The rest of the house was silent. He looked out the window to see bruised, ugly rainclouds.

_If that doesn't not make sense_, he thought wearily, _nothing makes sense._ Not bothering to question his strange phrasing, he shuffled out the conveniently open back door.

The strange shining was emanating from the other side of a tangled hedge. He moved forward cautiously, gripping the edges of the thicket before stepping around it.

Glynnis was crouched over a glowing rent in the ground, obviously bent over it protectively. She stood, kicking him to the ground, eyes crazed. "When-" she hissed, "will you learn?"

* * *

God, now I'm done. Obviously, it's different from the first draft, but since *sniffle* that's gone, this is all we've got.


	4. Chapter 4

My life is...like...shit...so I blame that for my lack of promptness or whatever it's called...bleh, I'm tired, I stayed up all night writing fanfics and now I'm so fucking tiiiirrreeeddd...but I have to start this now...gah...

* * *

He hissed in pain. "You're obviously not telling us something! What is it?"

Glowering furiously at him in distaste, she hissed, "If I didn't need my help, you can rest assured I'd try my hardest to kill you."

"Help? For what?"

She suddenly looked small and nervous, eyes darting around. "It...it's hard to explain. You see, the dimensions, you have all three normal ones, length, width, and height. After the first three, there are more dimensions. Like the fourth."

His head spun. "There are multiple dimensions?" She frowned. "Of course. Keep up."

"Time is omnipresent in all dimensions, so the fourth dimension is magic. You see, it permeates the entire dimension and makes it the most unstable. The most horrific things exist there, but there are also the most beautiful things you'll ever see, but the entire fabric of the dimension is slowly falling apart.

"Think of all of the dimensions stack on top of each other. As one is slowly destroyed, parts of it will fall through-"

England gasped suddenly and his face blanched. "...then-then you're from-"

"The fourth dimension."

He stood shakily. "If you're multidimensional, then why are you here?"

She crossed her arms. "I particularly like our dimensions the way they are right now, thank you. The dimension will stabilize itself over time, but certain forces are tearing it apart faster than it can repair itself. We need your help." Pulling him by the hand, she led him into the house. "They should be awake. If you feel like saving our worlds, we're going to have to do something now."

He ran a hand through his hair. "Guess it's now or never."

She patted him on the back. "That's the spirit."

* * *

I know this is really short, but I needed to explain the whole concept of dimensions before I went on with the action. Expect the next chapter soon.


	5. Chapter 5

Okay, promise some actual adventuring-ish this chapter, so without further ado let us begin!

* * *

America put his hands up in a sort of surrender position. "Let me get this straight. Your dimension is magical but it's falling apart, so you need our help."

Kaia nodded enthusiastically. "Yup! That's about it."

Russia hefted his pipe from hand to hand. "Then let us start, da?" Canada only trembled and nodded along with him.

England was...

"England?" America looked around. "Huh. Woulda sworn he was right here just a minute ago..." England reappeared holding his spellbook and wand.

Glynnis only raised an eyebrow. "Are we all ready?" Four rapid nods followed her words. Kaia sighed. "Going back home, eh? Who would have thought..." Her sister muttered something under her breath and watched as a large crevice opened in the floor. It sucked everything towards it, throwing up a whirlwind of papers and casting things about the room, creating an enormous racket.

"Now! Before it starts swallowing anything more-" She stepped towards it and seemed to be wading into a small multicolored pool. As she raised her hand a bit, ribbons of it clung to her skin. Finally submerged in the pit, she was gone.

Kaia shoved them towards it, finally pushing England so he tripped and landed face first in the chasm.

It felt a bit like wading in gelatin. He raised a hand, feeling an invisible wind whip his hair up and the liquid surrounding him coloring everything rainbow. Something floated off in the distance, little shadows shifting around him, and as they descended he felt it grow darker and colder. Inky midnight skies swirled around them, and he felt something flutter against his face. Looking around, he saw a pair of glittering hazel eyes watching him intently. Winking, they disappeared.

They crashed quite painfully into the ground, looking around to see a deserted theater and several glowing points in the sky and bits of darkness floating about. Large mountains rose and fell in the distance like rolling waves.

"Where...are we?" Canada asked timidly.

Glynnis nodded absentmindedly, "Doesn't really have a name, but it's a common place to appear when you get catapulted from one end of the dimension to the other. Or between, I suppose." She thought for a moment and walked up to the curtained stage, beginning to wind up a large winch that hung on the side of the wooden frame holding the old red velvet curtains.

A cheerful tune began to play, much like a tinny music box recording of a piano, and the curtains swung open noisily with a _swoosh_. A comical puppet danced across the stage, through the set of colorful trees, skipping gaily and humming something. Behind him lurked a ferocious looking bear. As it approached, the piano swept down into low scales racing up and down. It approached, and the set slid by, turning into dark forest. The puppet raced faster and faster, looking back every now and then.

Four low chords were struck and they disappeared into the foliage. At least three people held their breaths.

Four beats of silence.

The puppet emerged once more, and the forest cleared. Glittereing lights hung from the trees, casting artificial sunlight across the stage. He continued to skip along, until the song ended.

Kaia smiled as the man stepped off the stage. He spoke in a high pitched voice. "I'm glad you played the song slowly, because otherwise I wouldn't have as much time, because I only have as much as I performed before I go back. I assume you'd like to know where?"

"Yes," she said impatiently. "Should we go back...there?"

He nodded. "That's the weakest spot, I guess." Face suddenly contorted, he opened his mouth to say something else but disappeared.

They turned to face each other. "Guess we're going home," Kaia said.

Glynnis scowled. "Though not in a good way."

* * *

My brain, like, died in the middle of writing this and my muse went on vacation -_-;; so yeah, this chapter is really shitty.


End file.
